Finding my flow--Not letting NaNoWriMo kill me

I am on day 12 of NaNoWriMo--the ridiculous writing goal of 50,000 words in a month. My first novel has taken five years and is still not finished. So, the last week in October I said, "Hey, what's this? That sounds fun! Sure, let's give it a try." Ha! 

Well, I started out of the gate fine. I ignored my family, stayed up late, but was meeting the daily word goal of at least 1667 words. I was ahead on day 4, so on day 5 when I wasn't quite there I said, "I'll just make up for it tomorrow." Of course, with a run of days on less than ideal hours of sleep and two sick kids in the house, I caught a cold. I could not bring myself to stay up past 9:30 every night. Thanks, nanowrimo. What, are you trying to kill me? 

So, here I was--several days of less than 1667 words and I was way behind. 1667 words is a hard enough goal, but to add extra words to catch up is a nightmare. I had been writing the novel in chronological order, taking extra time to think out the transitions between scenes, letting the novel unfold. Throw that out the window. For the sake of word count I started jumping to the interesting scenes, letting the words flow like a river. 2000 words, 2200 words, 2600 words. Finally! Day 10 and I was caught up. 

Lesson learned--never plan on tomorrow to play catch up. Yesterday I wrote more than the 1667. I was ahead of the target word count for day 11. Woo hoo! Now, day 12. I'm on the right track but I know that going back to connect these random scenes is going to take time and not produce a lot of words. I need to get ahead now so those slow days can have a low word count.

Avoiding Depression: The joys of a rejection letter

So today I received a rejection letter. It wasn't a big deal competition, but it was my first rejection letter since I decided to become a "public" writer (of many rejections to come, I'm sure). Now I admit that I didn't put a lot of thought into the competition. I saw an announcement for it on social media. The deadline was just a few days away. I wrote a poem in about 20 minutes and sent it. I didn't exactly have high hopes, but there was at least a glimmer. I'm not surprised by the rejection.

I have to admit I'm not formally trained in writing. I just put down what I feel. I'm used to the praises of my English teachers and professors for what I've written. Of course, out of a class full of non-writers in a small school, my novice attempts must have looked good. I also have received honorable mentions in the pay-to-publish anthologies (which are probably not so honorable since I paid for their praises).

So, today was my first rejection letter. The momentary heartache has passed. I still love to write. I will still continue to write. Someday I will find that someone that likes my work enough to spread the news. Someday I will be published.

Now I write, I submit, and I wait. I have another contest which I've entered that I'm waiting a response on. I'm not so confident with this one (I actually put more time into it, but have never entered a novel-writing competition before). Still, there is that glimmer, that small bit of hope that keeps me going. I have to hold on to my glimmer. I would be writing anyway, so why not share it with the world? It would be so sad if I were the only one to ever read the words I write.

If you want to read my crappy poem, go to my "Poetry" page. The poem "I am One" was submitted to the 3Elements Review (they were very kind in their rejection so no hating).

NaNoWriMo First Timer!

In my recent splurges of social media I came across someone complaining about surviving NaNoWriMo. I had never heard of it but researched to find that November was "National Novel Writing Month." The challenge is to write 50,000 words in just a month. I just finished a novella of 27,000 words in less than 3 weeks. I had been inspired and the words oozed out of me. I figured November 1st was perfect timing to start again and to raise the bar. So far I have 1,200 words. Am I crazy to be aiming for 50,000 in only a month? I have another novel I have been working on for 5 years! I haven't even met the daily goal of 1,667 words and I feel the start of carpal tunnel creeping in to my wrists. And, now I'm blogging instead of working on my novel. This is going to be a challenging month! I have a feeling I won't be sleeping much.

Name Rant

It's pronounced "LAHrah DORRen" not "Laira DuhRAN." And, I'm from the US not the UK. Get it right people.

Rant over.

Thanks for listening.

Shh! It's a secret! My life undercover.

So, I'm not really an author. At least, my family and friends don't know that I am. I've been writing in secret. My family must think I'm addicted to Facebook or something since I'm always on my laptop. You should see me scrambling to click on some other program or another open tab on my browser. Of course, I always click on something else that pertains to writing so I have to click again on something else quickly which is totally suspicious.

Why do I bother keeping this secret? Am I embarrassed? I don't know. For some reason I want to keep this part private for now. I think I'm more excited to write when it's something sneaky. I don't know why stealth is so invigorating. I don't know why I get excited to get up at 4 in the morning to write.

I think I'm an addict.

I think about writing all the time. If I can't write or read something about writing, I get withdrawal. I can't sleep at night because I'm thinking about a story. I hide my addiction from my friends and family. I put off tasks at work to feed my addiction. Yeah, I'm definitely an addict. Good thing writing isn't illegal or deadly.

In the Beginning...

Okay, I know the title of this post is hokey but it's a quote from a bestseller so maybe it will give me some good juju. This is my journey. I have had the inklings of being a writer ever since I could write. My diary from childhood includes a page from the book that I was going to write about a girl and her horse...a book that was never written because I know nothing about horses, and because, well, how many elementary school students have actually written novels anyway?

As I grew up, poetry was my main outlet for writing. I even entered one of those poetry contests where you have to pay $40 to get a copy of the anthology with your poetry printed inside. My wonderful mother actually bought two anthologies because I didn't learn my lesson the first time. For what it's worth, I did get an honorable mention. Not sure if that's any sort of merit or not, but it made me feel good during my awkward middle school years.

In high school, my love for music overtook me and has since been my career. Writing was on the back burner, but it was still there. My poetry was resigned to assignments for English classes. About five years ago I had a spark of inspiration. I think I had a dream and I just had to write it down as a scene from a story. I decided to write a novel. I've added bits and pieces to it, but it is still unfinished. Actually, that is an understatement. I recently opened the file and realized it hadn't been edited in three years--just before the birth of my second child. Gee, I wonder why I haven't worked on it since then.

Anyhoo, the stroke of inspiration hit again last month. I had a dream and when I woke (it was 4 am) I couldn't stop thinking about it. I just had to write it down. Three weeks later I had a finished novella. I'm still a little amazed at the whirlwind this has been, but here I am, addicted to writing. Thanks for joining me on this adventure.